Why do you think it will still carb with no priming? If it does, it means it wasn't fermented all the way in the first place. You probably just rushed the beer into the bottles. How long did you leave it in the primary fermenter? If it's less than two weeks, you're in dangerous territory.

Priming is something I've been giving some thought to lately. As a fan of styles indiginous to the British Isles it's important not to over carb. So far so good. For my ales I'm usually putting in a couple of tablespoons more than 1/2 cup to carb 5 gallons.

My thinking was this, the beer has CO2 dissolved in it and there is probably some sugar left in the beer that the yeast will ferment to create some more. Also I thought that the action of bottling will agitate the already dissolved CO2 to come out of solution causing a vapor pressure inside the bottle.

Whenever I take hydrometer readings in the trial jar, the beer always looks carbonated.

My thinking was this, the beer has CO2 dissolved in it and there is probably some sugar left in the beer that the yeast will ferment to create some more. Also I thought that the action of bottling will agitate the already dissolved CO2 to come out of solution causing a vapor pressure inside the bottle.

Whenever I take hydrometer readings in the trial jar, the beer always looks carbonated.

Well, yes, the beer appears carbonated, especially if it's kept cool in the fermenter. That's why there are priming charts telling you to add less sugar if the beer is under 60 degrees. CO2 tends to remain in solution when the solution is colder.

I think you'll have very flat beer if you don't prime. If the beer is finished (as proven by FG readings) and the yeast have eaten all of the fermentables, the shouldn't be any available sugar for them to ferment. Racking will cause some of the co2 already dissolved in there to come out of solution, as well.

If your beer was overcarbonated last time, either you didn't wait until fermentation finished, or you added too much priming sugar. No other possibilities at all.

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